Sportsmen have been called on to defend our public lands a lot lately. Short-sighted proposals have popped up in state legislatures all across the West this winter to transfer the ownership of our public lands away from the American people. Hunters and anglers have been on the front lines, often right on the steps of state capitols, defending more than a hundred years of our national outdoor legacy.

Photo courtesy of Eric Petlock.

One of those bad ideas has migrated to Washington, with the February 13 introduction of S.490, the Federal Land Freedom Act of 2015. This legislation would turn the management of energy production on millions of acres of American public lands over to the states. The logic behind this bill is that energy production should be the dominant use of public lands, and that literally every barrier should be removed to make sure that production occurs quickly and with little regard for fish and wildlife habitat or access, indeed with little regard for anything.

S.490 is crafted on the principle that states can regulate energy production on federal public lands more efficiently and more effectively than can the federal land management agencies. This may well be true if one believes federal public lands should be singularly focused on the production of energy. State regulations for energy development are generally targeted at maximizing profits on state, and frequently, on private, lands. Our federal public lands were created for a higher purpose than rapid development at all costs. This legislation represents a reversal of the multiple use mandate that has been a foundational principle on federal public lands for more than a century. The American people own these lands and the American people must insist on having a say in their long-range management.

Energy development clearly has a place on federal lands, but it must be balanced with other uses and the public has a right to make its voice heard in that management. The Federal Land Freedom Act, however, makes clear that the public will have no input on public lands decision making when it comes to energy development. The legislation ensures, in no uncertain terms, that the Administrative Procedures Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act will be specifically cut out of the process for determining where energy production ought to go, and where it ought not to go.

The notion that underlies this bill, and many of the other land transfer ideas we’ve seen in recent months, is that these federal lands that have not been industrialized are “unused” or “underutilized.” In introducing S.490, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) said “The states, not the federal government, are the ones best equipped to tend to the extensive unused and unprotected lands across the nation that the federal government has staked a claim to.”

Photo courtesy of Wendy Shattil/Bob Rozinksi – International League of Conservation Photographers.

As any sportsmen can attest, the notion that if an area is not industrialized means it is unused is nonsense, and likely spoken by someone who has never left the comfort of his or her vehicle to experience our public lands. It ignores the fact that our public lands are the backbone of the nation’s $646 billion dollar outdoor recreation economy. It ignores the fact that 72 percent of hunters in the west rely on public lands to pursue their passion. And it ignores the fact that wide open places, like Wyoming’s sage country (often referred to as “The Big Empty”) provides critical habitat for 350 different species, from sage-grouse and golden eagles to mule deer and pronghorn.

The reality is that this lack of development on some of our public lands provides access and opportunity for sportsmen and outdoor enthusiasts from around the country. Hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation power a rural economic boom that won’t ever go bust, so long as we take care of the habitat and the access.

Hunters and anglers are amongst the strongest champions of federal public lands, as witnessed by the rallies we are seeing across the West opposing selling off or transferring to the states our public lands. We must remain vigilant as well against proposals that don’t go quite so far as wholesale transfer, but that will just as surely forever change the public land landscape.

And we must help decision makers understand that these lands are far from unused.

Last Thursday, over 200 sportsmen and women rallied on the steps of the Idaho State Capitol to demonstrate their support for keeping public lands in public hands. Hunters and anglers from across the state urged the Legislature to ensure long-term sportsmen’s access to the vast lands so important to the Idaho identity. Sportsmen representing the old and the young, men and women, outdoor businesses and veterans came together and spoke to the importance of these lands while Legislators listened with interest.

Photo courtesy of Coby Tigert.

Rally speakers raised many issues with a transfer of public lands, highlighting the potential losses of sporting opportunity, the loss of our personal heritage and the damage a land transfer would cause to the outdoor recreational economy. A federal land transfer would result in a fire sale of these lands. “What will we pass on to our future generations,” one speaker asked. “Another gate, another fine, another impediment created by the few owning what should belong to the many? Or will we protect the birthright that is intrinsic to American society?”

Politically extreme groups in Colorado and throughout the West are attempting to hijack federal public lands through takeovers that would undermine local, public-driven efforts towards responsible management of important hunting and fishing lands.

Now is the time to get the message to legislators and other decision-makers that our public lands must stay in our hands.

From the inland rainforests of its panhandle, south through the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness and out to the high desert and canyons of the Owyhees, Idaho is defined by public lands. More than 60 percent of the state, or 34 million acres, is public lands that offer sportsmen fantastic opportunities.

Anglers enjoy high mountain lakes and streams rich with trout and deep river canyons offering salmon, steelhead and sturgeon. Hunters pursue 10 species of big game on Idaho’s public lands. Upland bird hunters chase numerous species, from Columbia sharptails to spruce grouse.

I’ve spent my life tramping the public lands of Idaho in pursuit of steelhead, cutthroat trout, chukars, mule deer, mountain goats and many other critters. I have experienced the joy of introducing my kids to hunting and fishing here. But these opportunities may not exist for future generations if some groups have their way. Efforts are afoot in Idaho and eight other Western states to wrest public lands from the federal government and put them under state ownership.

America’s public lands – including our national forests and Bureau of Land Management lands – provide hunting and fishing opportunities to millions of Americans. They represent the uniquely American values of freedom and adventure that are the envy of the world. While few sportsmen would say that federal management of our lands is perfect, most of us recognize that the cost of managing these lands would far exceed the revenue they would provide to the states. State ownership would result in these areas being developed or sold.

Transferring public lands to the states and making them available for sale to private interests is not in the best interest of fish and wildlife or hunting and fishing. Once privatized, these lands would become off limits to most sportsmen forever. And Idaho has a history of selling its lands. Nearly one third of the lands given to Idaho at statehood have been sold, resulting in hunters and fishermen losing access to more than a million acres.

Sportsmen are speaking up and asking decision makers to end this discussion that threatens our Western heritage and the freedom to roam America’s wide open spaces. Sportsmen’s rallies already have drawn hundreds of hunters and anglers to state capitols in Montana and New Mexico. More events are planned for Idaho and Colorado.

There is a growing movement across nine Western states to pass legislation that would demand the transfer of federal public lands to the states. On January 29, 2015, TRCP staff and members participated in a rally at the New Mexico State Capitol to oppose this very bad idea. The rally was attended by over 250 New Mexicans, some of whom traveled over 300 miles to let their governor and State legislators know that they are opposed to the idea of spending state tax dollars to even study this idea.

Unlike many of the proponents of the land transfers these weren’t paid lobbyists or special interests – they were hunters, anglers, horsemen, wood cutters, campers, Native Americans, and veterans—real Americans who depend on public lands for recreation and spiritual renewal.

While some are frustrated with current Federal land management practices and policies, they recognize that the State of New Mexico doesn’t have the funds or the multiple-use mandates to responsibly manage public lands (e.g., maintain roads/recreation facilities, prevent or fight wildfires, restore areas that are damaged by wildfires, prevent abuses, etc.).

They fear that the State would simply use the lands to promote development and/or sell them to raise the money needed to manage them. They recognize transferring ownership of public lands to the State poses a significant threat to many of their closely held traditions and core values.

Photo courtesy of John Hamill.

At a time when many American’s feel disenfranchised by our government and political leadership, at least for one afternoon at the New Mexico State Capitol, common citizens showed up to express their support for something they are passionate about: keeping their public lands public.

The transfer of federal public lands to the states poses a threat to hunting and fishing as we know it today. Sportsmen need to continue to fight to maintain control and access to our most precious resource, our public lands. To make you voice heard, go to www.sportsmensaccess.org and sign the petition to stop the seizure of your public lands. Finally, consider attending public land rallies that are being planned in Denver, Colorado and in Boise, Idaho. This is the time for action not complacency!

The U.S. Forest Service recently issued instructions for the Shoshone National Forest to manage the Francs Peak and Wood River areas, near the town of Cody, to maintain their intact and undeveloped character. This action is in response to objections that were filed by the TRCP and other organizations in March 2014 – objections that prompted a national level review.

Shoshone National Forest.Image courtesy of Neil Thagard.

Earlier in 2014, last-minute changes were made to the Shoshone’s revised forest plan to create motorized trails in an area that is known to provide valuable wildlife habitat and high quality hunting and fishing. This change would have negatively impacted fish and wildlife as well as the sportsmen and -women who utilize the Francs Peak and Wood River areas. The Forest Service itself identified these areas as containing high fish and wildlife values – the region is home to many species including mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep, grizzly bears and black bears. In particular, the Shoshone hosts the largest native population of bighorn sheep in the U.S. forest system, and these areas are important to their sustainability.

During the revision of the Shoshone’s forest plan, the TRCP remained focused on ensuring that science-based analysis is used to conserve valuable fish and wildlife habitats as well as uphold hunter and angler interests. While providing public access to these areas is important, new motorized routes through the key habitat on Francs Peak and Wood River would have diminished fish and wildlife – and ultimately hurt sportsmen.

The TRCP appreciates the U.S. Forest Service’s consideration of our concerns during this review and decision making process. Thanks also are in order to others that were deeply involved, such as our partners at Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Trout Unlimited, Wild Sheep Foundation and Wyoming Wildlife Federation. Without the engagement of a committed group of sportsmen, this decision to conserve fish and wildlife – and further sportsmen’s interests – may never have come to pass.

Yet the president’s emphasis on increased investment in conservation programs represents a positive start to the federal budget process and certainly suggests an increased urgency by the administration to contribute more toward natural resource conservation. While a complete rollback of sequestration cuts is unlikely, these proposals enable us to see the reference points in the debate between the administration and Congress.

Many of the TRCP’s priorities received level funding or sizeable increases in the president’s budget request:

An additional $78 million was provided for the conservation of sage steppe landscapes. Image by Mia Sheppard.

The U.S. Forest Service would receive an increase of $30 million for the road and trail maintenance backlog, thereby helping provide public access to public lands. The budget would create a new pilot program, called the Integrated Resource Restoration Program, to address urgently needed road decommissioning, trail repair and removal of fish passage barriers, especially in areas where Forest Service roads may contribute to water quality problems in streams and water bodies. Decommissioned roads often cause blowouts and prevent access to the most popular recreation sites. This program is important for both sportsmen’s access and habitat restoration and enhancement. The budget also prioritizes “the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) to foster collaborative, science-based restoration on priority forest landscapes across the Nation.” The CFLRP would support jobs, provide a reliable wood supply, restore forest health and reduce the costs of fire suppression.

The proposed budget moves to end fire borrowing.

In addition, the president’s budget includes a vital provision to end wildfire borrowing. This reflects stipulations in the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, legislation re-introduced in Congress this year that would classify the most extreme wildfires as natural disasters, enabling the use of federal emergency dollars to fund their suppression. This provision calls for wildfires whose suppression costs exceed 70 percent of the 10-year suppression cost average to be funded similarly to other natural disasters, restoring upwards of $400 million to the U.S. Forest Service budget. The TRCP strongly supports this bill.

Sportsmen should consider this budget a victory and sign of renewed interest by the president in conservation investments. This is only the beginning of the debate. Congress will rightly scrutinize the president’s budget request and advance its own plan. As Congress begins this process, the TRCP is ready to make the case that conservation is always a good investment.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced close to $800 million in federal funding for locally led solutions to regional conservation challenges via its Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). The five-year, $1.2 billion federal program was authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill to award funds to projects that improve soil health, water quality, water use efficiency, and wildlife habitat, as well as activities that otherwise support natural resources on private lands. In 2015, USDA has awarded $370 million to 115 high-impact projects across all 50 states and Puerto Rico, which will be bolstered by approximately $400 million from stakeholders. TRCP is a proud partner of the following 2015 RCPP project leads: Ducks Unlimited, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and Trout Unlimited.

To read more about RCPP projects improving working lands and wildlife habitat, click here.

Image by Michael Misurek.

Water is deeply personal. We tend to take it for granted until something happens to the water we drink or fish in. Even when a chemical spill shut off water to hundreds of thousands of West Virginians, most of us probably looked at it as a tragic news story rather than as motivation to examine whether our drinking water source is vulnerable, if our favorite trout stream is impaired or if our local wetland is at risk of destruction.

That’s why solutions to our water challenges are most successful when driven by local participation: those closest to the water know it best and have the greatest interest in fixing it the right way. However, because local leaders often do not have sufficient financial or technical resources available, locally-driven solutions work best when integrated with resources from a variety of stakeholders, including federal agencies.

Recognizing this federal role in water conservation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture just announced nearly $800 million in funding through its Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) for 115 locally-led solutions to regional conservation challenges. This effort will take $370 million in federal funds and match it with $400 million in funds committed by project partners. Many of these projects will be led by sportsmen’s organizations working together with local farmers and ranchers to protect our working landscapes and fish and wildlife habitat.

The Verde River in Arizona. Image courtesy of the National Wild and Scenic River System.

Take, for instance, the Verde River Flow and Habitat Restoration Initiative led by TRCP partner The Nature Conservancy (TNC). With $2.8 million in support from RCPP, The Nature Conservancy and five other partners in the Verde River Valley of Arizona will improve irrigation water management and irrigation water delivery on 1,000 acres of working lands, enhance 6,000 acres of riparian habitat, and protect 400 acres of agricultural lands through conservation easements over five years. Easements will be focused on lands that already have significant investment in on-farm conservation practices and are critical to ensure long-term investments are protected. TNC has been working in the Verde Valley for three years already to improve water conveyance infrastructure; now, their efforts will be supercharged with a greater on-farm focus.

As another example, the Colorado River Water Conservation District, along with 31 partners, is receiving $8 million from RCPP to modernize water management for agricultural uses in the Lower Gunnison River Basin. Many local efforts are underway already to improve conveyance and delivery of water as well as improve on-farm irrigation practices. With this grant, project participants will be able to integrate limited, disparate efforts under a coordinated leadership team, including local producers, to achieve greater water efficiency results and multiply environmental benefits. In addition, the partners will target areas with high selenium levels to reduce pollutant levels in the basin, producing water quality as well as water quantity benefits. This project will accelerate progress towards water users’ common goal: utilizing water resources wisely while ensuring healthy fish and wildlife populations and agricultural sustainability.

Both of these examples are localized so it may not be obvious why this new federal effort is so important to anyone outside the chosen project areas. But there are at least two reasons why we all should take note of this new conservation program. First, though the most direct benefits of river and habitat improvements will be felt in the project areas, these benefits accrue downstream, whether it’s through more water being left in the river for fish or fewer pollutants entering the watershed. Second, this model of locally-driven solutions coupled with broad stakeholder support should set the tone for conservation in the future, and the novel solutions it will produce will be replicated nationwide. Even if your favorite hunting and fishing grounds didn’t benefit from this first round of projects selected, the lessons learned from them should be coming to a watershed near you soon.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced close to $800 million in funding for locally led solutions to regional conservation challenges via its Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). The five-year, $1.2 billion federal program was authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill to award funds to projects that improve soil health, water quality, water use efficiency, and wildlife habitat, as well as activities that otherwise support natural resources on private lands. In 2015, USDA has awarded $370 million to 115 high-impact projects across all 50 states and Puerto Rico, which will be bolstered by approximately $400 million from stakeholders. TRCP is a proud partner of the following 2015 RCPP project leads: Ducks Unlimited, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and Trout Unlimited.

To read more about RCPP projects improving water use efficiency, click here.

RCPP projects from around the country. Is something happening in your state? Image courtesy of USDA.

When presented with 115 high-impact projects of all shapes and sizes, funneling about $800 million entirely into conservation…it’s difficult to name favorites. Thankfully, many of the just-announced Regional Conservation Partnership Program projects, such as the three examples below, stand out by their effort to balance the needs of production agriculture with the needs of fish and wildlife. RCPP shows that farming and conservation work better together.

Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program National Demonstration Project

Image from Minnesota’s prairie potholes.

USDA has awarded $9 million to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to help roll out to other states an innovative new pilot program. MAWQCP provides regulatory certainty to farmers who voluntarily enroll every single acre—crop and non-crop—of their farm operation in comprehensive water quality conservation planning for 10 years. In other words, program participants will automatically be declared in compliance with all new state water quality laws and rules that take effect during the next decade.

The idea of regulatory certainty might seem like “inside baseball,” but farmers and sportsmen alike should pay attention. If successful, Agricultural Water Quality Certification will be lauded as a win-win solution and held up as a model program for conservation on private lands. It will surely please those who champion working lands and tight government budgets; certification offers landowners freedom from increased regulation rather than the financial incentives usually offered for single-site, single-practice conservation. On the other hand, those who love fish and wildlife will have assurance that their state’s farmers are working long-term on a large scale for healthy soils and clean waters. These decade-long, whole-farm solutions could inspire creative new opportunities for conservation.

Here is a perfect example of the public-private partnership RCPP was intended to foster. USDA awarded $13 million to help restore the Delaware River, matching an $18 million private-sector investment in the long term health of the watershed. That’s $31 million for working lands conservation in the region—far more than either the government or private actors would be able to commit alone. Experts will provide over 1,200 farmers and forest landowners with technical assistance to restore fish and wildlife habitat and funds to protect working agricultural and forest lands from development.

Therein lies the key theme that runs throughout the new RCPP: while much of USDA’s past conservation focus has been on individual farms, RCPP enables multiple actors to rally around landscape-scale programs to achieve greater impact. That’s an organizational model that TRCP can stand behind.

Rice Stewardship Partnership—Sustaining the Future of Rice

Image by Dusan Smetana.

Lastly, we shine a spotlight on “Sustaining the Future of Rice” for its ambitious scope: this project will span six states from California to Mississippi, involve more than 40 partners, and employ $10 million in RCPP funds to help 800 rice producers conserve waterfowl habitat.

A recent Ducks Unlimited study found that rice lands in the project regions provide more than 35 percent of the food resources available to wintering dabbling ducks, and that over 50 percent of all dabbling ducks that winter in the U.S. do so in the project regions. (These statistics don’t even count the benefits that these working wetlands provide to geese and other animals and fish.) Unfortunately, rice landscapes are threatened by limited water in drought-stricken California, changing agricultural practices, and long-term declines in rice acreage on the Gulf Coast. The key to observing and hunting waterfowl across the continent may depend on the future of rice, and we salute the Rice Stewardship Partnership for taking up the challenge.

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Over two-thirds of our nation’s land—including some of the most important fish and wildlife habitat—is in private hands, and the downstream effects of conservation practices on those lands can be profound. Through initiatives such as the RCPP, farmers and foresters are every day enhancing opportunities for hunters, anglers, and wildlife enthusiasts of all stripes. We look forward to enjoying the results.

November’s elections proved that change is a constant in Washington; today’s majority can swiftly become tomorrow’s minority. But regardless of which party controls the agenda and the gavels of Congress, it remains imperative for America’s hunters and anglers to make clear our priorities: excellent access to quality fish and wildlife habitat. Communicating that message to decision makers is the mission, indeed, the very reason the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership was created.

2015 promises to bring many changes and challenges, both positive and negative, to the sportsmen’s community. The TRCP and our partners will be closely tracking the following issues, all of which have the potential to significantly impact our ability to hunt, fish and otherwise enjoy what Theodore Roosevelt called “the strenuous life.”

2015 promises to bring many changes and challenges, both positive and negative, to the sportsmen’s community.

Our community of 40 million American hunters and anglers continues to be one of the very few stakeholder groups that pays our own way. Through license fees, excise taxes and membership to groups like Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever, who leverage every federal dollar they receive three or four times, we support our outdoor way of life. While so many citizens expect more from the government, sportsmen are a group of citizens who continue to pay more. We remain one of the very best investments the federal government makes. As an example, this year waterfowl hunters have elected to pay just a little bit more for Duck Stamps, as we asked Congress to raise the price from $15 to $25. Few walk the halls of the Capitol lobbying for increased fees, but sportsmen understand that tomorrow’s outdoor opportunities require conservation today.

2015 may well be the “year of the sage grouse,” but whether this will be a story of failure or a conservation success story for the ages remains to be seen. The continued commitment of state and federal land managers to take the steps necessary for durable conservation of both the bird, and more importantly the sage ecosystem on which hundreds of other species depend, will be vital to sustain both the grouse and species like mule deer and pronghorn antelope. Getting it right on sage grouse now will go a long way towards avoiding a veritable cascade of listing decisions that may well cripple the American West in a way that works for no one.

Photo courtesy of Jarred Kay.

On our national forests, the pendulum has swung away from active forest management, resulting in fuels accumulating, an increased risk of wildfire and fish and wildlife habitat in dire need of restoration. Even the most straightforward forest management projects frequently wind up in court, delayed unnecessarily for years while forest conditions deteriorate. A bipartisan, multi-stakeholder opportunity exists to improve the health of our national forests – and subsequently improve the forest-dependent economy. Short-sighted, single solution approaches that seek to return to the other extreme are no more workable than the status quo, but in this Congress TRCP believes the leadership and the will exists for pragmatic forest legislation, sportsmen look forward to being part of that conversation.

Sportsmen readily admit that management challenges exist on America’s public lands, but the sale of those public lands, an idea that seems to arise once a generation or so, remains a worrisome proposition. America’s public lands are interwoven into a sportsmen’s heritage that is more than a century old, and their accessibility to Americans of all stripes stands in stark contrast to the private ownership and moneyed access of privileged European monarchies. Few more un-American ideas exist than the notion that private economic interests should gain title to a large swath of the American legacy, and the TRCP and our partners remain committed to thwarting misguided attempts to sell, transfer or otherwise divest the federal government of its irreplaceable public lands.

Image courtesy of Howard Polskin.

Management challenges are not limited to the land, of course, but also extend to our oceans and coastal resources. Congress in 2015 may well continue to examine the law managing our nation’s fisheries, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, with an eye toward making changes in the next round of reauthorization. 2016 will be the 40th anniversary of the act. Over the past four decades, recreational saltwater fishing has grown up, but the Magnuson-Stevens Act hasn’t kept the pace. Communities that once depended on commercial fishing now just as surely depend on recreational anglers for their economic livelihoods. As congressional leaders from a variety of coastal states review American fisheries management, they would do well to consider the health of recreational fisheries on equal footing with commercial fisheries. The TRCP will continue to stress that ignoring recreational angling equates to bad economic policy.

Opportunities and threats exist, much as they always do. The theme of 2015 will be balance. With a thoughtful and open-minded approach, threats can become opportunities, and the collective interests of all Americans can be addressed. An “us versus them” mentality draws lines in the sand unnecessarily and assures that division remains the status quo.

The TRCP will seek collaboration where we can and defend strongly our rock solid principles where they are threatened. In so doing, we will make sure that the future of hunting and angling dawns bright for future generations of Americans.